'Connectivity is key' for in-region commuters

Friday

Mar 15, 2013 at 2:00 AMMar 15, 2013 at 7:56 AM

One in six Orange County workers commutes to New York City or New Jersey, but the other five stay closer to home.The figures, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2006-2010 American Community Surveys, support what mid-Hudson planners say is the future: The suburbs will become their own employment centers and compete with the metropolitan region for workers.The pattern is also evident in Ulster and Sullivan counties, where commuting within the Hudson Valley has long eclipsed commuting to a more distant and less accessible city.“We're going to see more jobs and better jobs closer to home,” said David Church, Orange County's planning commissioner. “There's still more work to be done, but it's clear the region's strategy going forward will be about making investments in economic development as well as inter-county and intra-county transportation.”

judy Rife

One in six Orange County workers commutes to New York City or New Jersey, but the other five stay closer to home.

The figures, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2006-2010 American Community Surveys, support what mid-Hudson planners say is the future: The suburbs will become their own employment centers and compete with the metropolitan region for workers.

The pattern is also evident in Ulster and Sullivan counties, where commuting within the Hudson Valley has long eclipsed commuting to a more distant and less accessible city.

“We're going to see more jobs and better jobs closer to home,” said David Church, Orange County's planning commissioner. “There's still more work to be done, but it's clear the region's strategy going forward will be about making investments in economic development as well as inter-county and intra-county transportation.”

The number of Orange County residents working in New York City rose to 17,744 from 14,203 in 2000, a reflection, in part, of the out-migration that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and fueled the mid-decade housing boom. The majority work in Manhattan, 10,971, and The Bronx, 3,979.In contrast, the county sent 12,882 residents to work in New Jersey, 9,888 to Rockland and 7,068 to Westchester, a collective increase of 3,120 over 2000. The county's total commuter count – including those with trips within Orange County – increased nearly 12 percent during the decade, reflecting population growth.

“There's no question that the city is a vital employment center for us, but the commute to Rockland, Westchester and North Jersey is as important, if not more important,” said Church, adding the county has considered using some of its federal transit aid to support more Short Line and NJ Transit bus service to New Jersey.

In Ulster County, the number of residents working in the city rose to 2,749 from 2,116, and in Sullivan, the number fell slightly, to 1,124 from 1,348.

“The highest-paying jobs will remain in the core central business district below 60th Street, so commuting to Manhattan will increase, but this (the suburbs) is where the action is,” said Bill Wheeler, director of planning at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Wheeler, in speaking to the Tappan Zee Transit Task Force last month, said the growth of suburban job centers has fueled the growth in reverse commuting from the city just as the dispersal of 24/7 health care and technology jobs to multiple locations has redefined rush-hour.

At the same time, ridership on the MTA's subways is at record levels, levels not seen since World War II.

A less readily measured trend, but a still-apparent one, Wheeler said, is that younger generations are unwilling to endure the long journeys to work that many of their parents have made.“Radical change is coming,” he said.

Planners from Rockland and Westchester echoed his comments in making their case for better inter-county and intra-county transit services to connect workers and workplaces.

“What these numbers do, despite their margin of error, is drive many of our policy discussions and decisions about transportation and transit – which is exactly what they're supposed to do,” said Dennis Doyle, Ulster County's planning director.

On one hand, Doyle said, the county has developed routes for Ulster County Area Transit that link park-and-rides and commuters to Adirondack Trailways and Metro-North Railroad services to the city. On the other, the county is building on existing UCAT connections with other bus companies in Newburgh and Poughkeepsie – since 19,565 of its 22,695 residents who work elsewhere in the Hudson Valley commute to Orange and Dutchess.

Orange County has also studied the viability of rush-hour bus service between neighborhoods with high commuter populations and Metro-North stations or park-and-rides that Short Line serves. Some municipal buses already perform this service. And the county and state also support access to Metro-North trains in Beacon via shuttle buses and ferries from Newburgh.

“Connectivity is key,” said Church. “That's why we're working with Sullivan County on the state's Route 17 study and why we're interested in what happens in the Tappan Zee corridor, in how we can connect with Rockland's bus service to Westchester.”

Sullivan County, struggling today with the region's highest unemployment rate at 11 percent, still saw the number of residents working in the county rise to 23,713 from 19,922 in 2000. More of its residents now travel to jobs in Orange, 5,390, than all other destinations combined.

“The (job) situation is not very comfortable right now, but hope is on the horizon,” said Allan Scott, president of the Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development.

Scott predicted the number of “worthwhile jobs” available within the county will increase in the next two years as significant projects in health care and tourism come on line – independent of whatever happens with the legalization of gambling in the state.

Doyle and Church said congestion on county and state roads will still continue to grow in the region, regardless of what improvements are made to transit services, and will have to be addressed. “More commuters drive to work, even to the city and Jersey, than use transit,” said Church. “We've got a robust highway network, and driving is still convenient.”